This invention relates to an improved unit frame for carrying specialized truck associated equipment and which can be detachably mounted on a motor truck chassis.
The motor truck chassis unit, being a relatively expensive piece of equipment as is well known, is most efficiently used when it can be utilized interchangeably with different types of service equipment units such as concrete mixers, dump bodies, tank units and fifth wheel devices, for example. Heretofore, such service equipment units have included a frame assembly formed as an integral part of the unit which provides temporary structural integrity during the fabrication and shipping of the equipment unit, and a means for bolting the equipment to the motor truck chassis, but does not provide means of supporting the equipment when the chassis is not present or, in the case of detachable bodies such as freight containers, includes exterior longitudinal structural members along the lateral extremities of the unit that are customarily tied into corner tie-down castings for attachment to the carrier vehicle chassis to add greater strength to the frame assembly and which inherently adds a substantial amount of weight. Such corner attachment method requires that outrigger means be provided on the carrier vehicle to support the mating corner tie-downs and this, in turn, adds a further considerable amount of weight to the carrier vehicle. The presence of the corner tie-down outriggers on the rear of a carrier vehicle restricts the usage of the vehicle to only certain types of equipment in addition to adding the additional weight.
Accordingly, with the above observations in mind, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a structural unit frame for truck associated equipment which can be detachably mounted on a motor truck chassis and which will provide adequate support for such equipment with a substantial reduction in weight and with no sacrifice in structural capacity as compared with the weight disadvantage of present structures for similar purposes.
More particularly, it is an object herein to provide a unit frame as characterized which includes spaced and braced longitudinal structurals carrying appropriate outrigger means for the use of removable landing gears in mounting and demounting of the unit frame and which are also provided with suitably arranged coupling devices for cooperation with complementary components therefor on the regular chassis frame rails of the carrier vehicle whereby corner tie-downs and outriggers of substantial weight as presently employed are eliminated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a unit frame of the above class that can be used with all types of commercially available truck mounted equipment with a minimum of adaptation and without extensive modification of the carrier vehicle chassis.
A further object herein is to provide such a unit frame that is capable of supporting exceptionally heavy loadings despite uneven terrain and adverse operating conditions.
Still another object for the unit frame of this invention is to provide maximum support capacity with a minimum of frame height to provide the lowest possible center of gravity for the mounted equipment and cargo.
The foregoing objects and such further objects as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed out, together with the advantages of this invention will be more fully discussed and developed in the more detailed description of the accompanying drawings.